| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Vailima Prayers & Sabbath Morn by Robert Louis Stevenson: Sometimes a passing band of hostile warriors, with blackened faces,
would peer in at us through the open windows, and often we were
forced to pause until the strangely savage, monotonous noise of the
native drums had ceased; but no Samoan, nor, I trust, white person,
changed his reverent attitude. Once, I remember a look of
surprised dismay crossing the countenance of Tusitala when my son,
contrary to his usual custom of reading the next chapter following
that of yesterday, turned back the leaves of his Bible to find a
chapter fiercely denunciatory, and only too applicable to the
foreign dictators of distracted Samoa. On another occasion the
chief himself brought the service to a sudden check. He had just
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Tour Through Eastern Counties of England by Daniel Defoe: a member of Parliament for the town of Berwick-upon-Tweed.
On the other side of Witham, at Fauburn, an ancient mansion house,
built by the Romans, lives Mr. Bullock, whose father married the
daughter of that eminent citizen, Sir Josiah Child, of Wanstead, by
whom she had three sons; the eldest enjoys the estate, which is
considerable.
It is observable, that in this part of the country there are
several very considerable estates, purchased and now enjoyed by
citizens of London, merchants, and tradesmen, as Mr. Western, an
iron merchant, near Kelendon; Mr. Cresnor, a wholesale grocer, who
was, a little before he died, named for sheriff at Earl's Coln; Mr.
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| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from An Unsocial Socialist by George Bernard Shaw: catch smallpox because he had seen many cases of it; or as if a
master mariner, knowing that many ships are wrecked in the
British channel, should venture there without a pilot, thinking
that he knew its perils too well to run any risk of them. Yet, as
the doctor might hold such an opinion if he believed himself to
be constituted differently from ordinary men; or the shipmaster
adopt such a course under the impression that his vessel was a
star, Agatha found false security in the subjective difference
between her fellows seen from without and herself known from
within. When, for instance, she fell in love with Mr. Jefferson
Smilash (a step upon which she resolved the day after the storm),
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The fourth excerpt represents the element of Earth. It speaks of physical influences and the impact of the unseen on the visible world, and is drawn from At the Earth's Core by Edgar Rice Burroughs: my mind filled with the horrors of my position as I thought
of the terrible doom which awaited me the moment the eyes
of the reptiles fell upon the creature that had disturbed
their slumber.
As long as I could I remained beneath the surface,
swimming rapidly in the direction of the islands that I
might prolong my life to the utmost. At last I was
forced to rise for air, and as I cast a terrified glance
in the direction of the Mahars and the thipdars I was
almost stunned to see that not a single one remained upon
the rocks where I had last seen them, nor as I searched
At the Earth's Core |
